A person without a wand is defenceless
by halfravenhalfclaw
Summary: All Sirius ever wanted was magic and real friends, but that was the thing he could never get, because being born as a squib, his "friends" didn't want to live with him, cause they didn't want to bring him into danger. But maybe he can still make it on his own.


_**Written for The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition**_

_[Season 7] - Round 11_

_Team: Chudley Cannons_

_Position: Chaser 3 - A character never had any powers to begin with._

_Prompts:_

_2\. (song) On Top Of The World by Rachel Bearer_

_6\. (dialogue) "I don't go looking for trouble, but I do enjoy befriending it."_

_15\. (emotion) jealousy_

_(Thanks to hannahsoapy for betaing)_

.:lll:.

"Are you ready to get into trouble?"

He frowned. "James, you of all people should know that I don't go looking for trouble," Sirius smirked. "But I do enjoy befriending it." He jumped up from the sofa. "What did you have in mind?"

"Remus is coming over in a few minutes so we can go to the Platform together. I thought we could throw some icy water at him when he comes out of the fireplace." He had a mischievous grin on his face.

Sirius agreed immediately. How couldn't he agree? He loved pranks, and this one didn't involve magic. It didn't use to be a problem as James wasn't allowed to do magic at home, but he had turned seventeen only a couple of months prior and had taken every opportunity to do magic just about all the time during the Easter Holidays.

James almost jumped as he dragged Sirius into the kitchen to get buckets of water. The sweet smell of freshly baked muffins hit them as they entered. Remus was coming over, so of course, it was with chocolate, though Sirius had an extra surprise once they had cooled down.

Once back in the living room, they stood on each side of the fireplace. Remus was supposed to come at nine, and the boy was always on time. He most likely just waited in front of the fireplace until the clock hit nine so he could come.

Finally, it happened. Remus didn't even get one full step out of the fireplace before he was soaked. He looked around and spotted the buckets that Sirius and James were holding in their hands.

He picked out his wand, and Sirius quickly ducked behind the door, but James was too busy laughing to notice. Remus pointed his wand at James and used the water charm against him. They both ran outside.

Sirius got out and followed them.

When he finally got outside, they were in the middle of a magic duel. James threw hexes at Remus, who ducked them and also sent some the other way. Sirius just stood and watched until James yelled Expelliarmus, and Remus' wand flew out of his hand.

James let out a triumphant laugh. "I win!"

"Who says you win just because I dropped my wand?" Remus had picked up his wand and now stood beside them.

"Because then you're defenceless, which means I could end you if I wanted."

The comment wasn't even directed at Sirius, but it still hurt him. A person without a wand was defenceless. If only Sirius was a wizard. Then he could go to Hogwarts with James and Remus. Be with them all the time instead of just waiting for them to come home again.

"But you didn't, which also means you didn't win," Remus argued.

"We'll let Sirius decide," James decided and turned around for the first time.

"James wins," he quickly said, happy to be included.

"I win!" James exclaimed again and threw his arms into the air, completely carefree.

Both Sirius and Remus rolled their eyes but laughed nonetheless. James just was like that, and they had learned it over time. Sirius had only lived with the Potters for a few years, but it felt more like home than any other place on earth.

"So what've you been up to since Christmas?" Remus turned to Sirius.

Sirius beamed. "I bought a place for my Coffee shop. I got it cheap, so there's a lot of work on it. I'll have to paint the walls, get new tables, chairs, I'll probably also have to get a new floor. I got it today so I can start… but it means I won't be able to come to the platform with you…"

"Oh, that's fine," Remus said.

Sirius sighed. He had hoped it would bother them more that he couldn't come, but James had had the exact same reaction. He wanted to be with them, but clearly, they didn't need him as much as he needed them.

"He's going to live above the shop," James interjected. "There's a flat there."

"You two can live there too if you want," Sirius said, holding his breath. He had been meaning to ask them for quite some time, hoping that he could become more included in their friendship if they all lived together.

James and Remus shared a quick glance, and it was James who spoke.

"Actually… Remus and I are going to join the war once we graduate, and if we lived with you, it would just bring you in danger and we wouldn't feel good about that."

_A person without a wand was defenceless._

Sirius didn't get to say anything -or even see their faces- because Mrs Potter called to tell him the muffins had cooled down. He hurried towards the house to get away from them.

Mrs Potter looked at him, but Sirius avoided her gaze. He had genuinely thought they would want to move in with him, that he meant more to them and wasn't just someone they hung out with simply because he was there.

_But_. He thought as he cut out the middle of the muffin to fill it with chocolate. _If they don't want me, then I don't want them either. I can do it on my own. I don't need them and their hoity-toity magic. _He swirled frosting on the top.

He had baked these muffins without their help, and without the help of magic. It was a small thing, but he had done it completely on his own.

.:lll:.

Sirius didn't say goodbye when he got out of the car, but neither did James nor Remus, hence didn't feel bad about it. The car continued driving behind him, but Sirius focused on the building in front of him.

He grabbed the key from his pocket, and slowly unlocked the door. The floor was greasy, sticky and covered in dust, except from one path where the previous owner had walked every day. The place had been a coffee shop once long ago, but it had shut down.

There were a few chairs and tables, but they were all things he was going to throw out. Mr and Mrs Potter had invested a bunch of money in him so he could get his dream place, and he was going to pay them back despite their wishes.

He went to the kitchen. It had a big oven, a big working table, and another table which Sirius figured he could use to cool down cakes and such. It definitely needed cleaning or a renovation.

There were so many things to do -he even had to fix the flat above too- and if he'd had magic, it could all be fixed with the flick of a wand. Everything would be so much easier and better if he just had magic.

Whatever.

_No matter what_, he wanted to do it without magic.

"Is anyone here?"

Sirius quickly got back to the main room. Two fit men were standing in the doorway. He had hired them to take away any old furniture in the shop, and then he could begin removing the floor. Later, Mr Potter had said he would come and help him.

He'd been reluctant at first to let them help, but Mrs Potter had reminded him that he was still making it on his own even though he got help.

After getting a new floor, Sirius would begin to paint the walls, then he would start renovating the kitchen. He had spent a year to plan everything out so it would be as he wanted.

.:lll:.

He yawned. Removing the old floor and replacing was both harder and took longer than Sirius expected. It was late at night, but the new furniture would arrive two days later and he wanted the smell of paint to be gone before he started decorating.

"Still up?"

He turned around and spotted Mrs Potter.

"Seems so," he simply replied and continued the painting. About half the wall was made of wood, which had been painted white. He had planned it out so the sofas he wanted was about the same height.

"I thought you wanted a black wall with white stars?"

He nodded. "I did, for the purpose of the star theme, but about a month ago I realized it would be too dark. So it's going to be white with black stars, and then the sofas will be black. Which also solves the whole _mess is easy to spot on white sofas_ thing."

She nodded. "When are you gonna go to bed?"

"I'm finished painting, so I'm just going to line out the constellations with a pen so I can paint it tomorrow. That will hopefully give it enough time to get the smell of paint away before the furniture arrives."

"Have you considered hiring someone to serve the coffee while you bake? I think it will be difficult to do both."

"Yes, I just haven't had the time. I also want to find out what you usually pay people so I don't give either too much nor too little."

"Do you want help with that?" she tilted her head.

Sirius hesitated. It was something that he easily could do, it wouldn't take much time, but he needed to relax.

"That would be great, thanks." He smiled.

.:lll:.

It almost looked exactly as he had imagined - and it was perfect. The white wall with the black stars was perfect. Same as the black sofas and tables with a starry night on the surface - shining stars and that weird blueish-purple mist thing, that gave the whole area a mystical feeling.

The counter continued the same theme as the tables, and it had a big display for cakes, cookies or whatever he decided to bake. There was room for cups for coffee and tea, of course also a machine to make both of these things.

The kitchen was new and clean, it was bright and he could definitely see himself bake a lot of goodies in there.

The flat upstairs wasn't as pretty, but his main focus had been downstairs, so he didn't mind. Plus, his flat might look messy, and nothing matched, but he liked it. It felt like someplace he could someday call his home.

It had taken a whole week longer than he had planned, but he did it, and he did it without magic. He had needed neither, Remus nor James. Actually, he hadn't thought much about them.

With a smile on his lips, Sirius turned the sign from closed to open and opened the door. Mrs Potter had insisted he put an 'opening soon' sign up before he opened, and he had also seen more than one person take a quick glance inside through the windows.

He hurried behind the counter and excitedly waited for the first customer.

.:lll:.

To say it lightly, the first day had been awful. He had spent a lot of time learning to make the perfect coffee, and the perfect tea. But he hadn't thought of all these small things, like to remember who had ordered what.

People came up, ordered, he wrote it down, they sat down, but then he forgot who had ordered it, and it was impractical for him to walk around between the tables while people waited in line. To top it all, he fell and broke one of the glasses, so he had to clean that up while everybody was waiting for him.

A person entered the shop while Sirius was cleaning the tables.

"We're closed," he quickly said. It had been a long day, and he hadn't had time for breaks. So he just wanted to go upstairs and sleep. With a wand, he could just clean all the tables at once.

"Uhm, sorry, it's just that there's a sign in the window that says you're hiring?"

This caught his attention immediately. "Yes! Yes, come, sit here." He sat down at one of the sofas.

The other man sat down as well. He had short platinum hair, pale skin and big eyes. He looked friendly enough, which was exactly what Sirius wanted. At least he would rather enter a coffee shop with a nice looking guy behind the counter, instead of a scary person.

"Tell me about yourself," Sirius said. He had learned what things he should ask at a job interview, and this one seemed like a good start.

"Well, uh, my name is Christopher, I'm nineteen. I just moved to London to study, and I need a job on the side."

"Have you worked in a coffee shop before?" This was the most important part. As Sirius wasn't too experienced himself, it would make sense to hire someone who was.

"Yes, I've been working in the local one in my old town for a couple of years."

"Okay then…" he hesitated. What would be stupid and what would be smart? He really needed the extra help, but he barely knew this guy… "We can try it out. I'll need your schedule…"

"Oh, I won't start school until after the summer holidays, so I can work full time every day until then."

Sirius smiled. "Well, that sounds great. I'll be baking some cakes and cookies and such every morning before we open, but you don't have to come then. I just want you here a half hour before we open to make everything ready."

Christopher nodded.

"Also… if you have any ideas that might help -it can be anything- then I want you to know that you can talk to me. I'm open to any suggestion."

"I'll keep that in mind."

.:lll:.

Sirius laid down on the sofa. It had been a busy day, but it had also been the most people he'd brought in yet. He would pay Mr and Mrs Potter back in no time. But there was also rent, and he would have to buy more supplies soon-

No, he wouldn't think about that. It had been an amazing day. It had reminded him why he even wanted to open the place.

The awkward first dates, with blushes and shy smiles. The friends laughing and having fun together. The people who always came in early and left a little happier. The couples who had some great times between the walls.

He brought smiles to people's lips, he made them a place to be. Everyone was welcome. Black people, gay people, sick people. But of course, arse holes were kicked out.

Sirius had done it. He had setten a goal and he achieved it. No magic. It filled him with hope. He didn't need magic to be happy, to be himself. Without the thing he had been craving for his whole life, he had fulfilled his dream.

.:lll:.

**Word count: 2459**


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